Hair

The girls consider auditioning for Hair.

Pretty in Pink

After all the rain the girls find a sunny afternoon a reason to go proudly pink and celebrate!

Roosting to a Rag

I have successfully trained my brood of hens to head to the roost early by twirling a white rag and shouting Lets go roost girls! I am full of pride! I have not only outsmarted the coyotes

but the chickens too! Tonight I sleep knowing that I may not be a big deal but I am at least 1% smarter than a chicken or coyote, that's gotta count for something! Training method: Chickens love tortillas. Tortillas are white, rag is white, tortilla every several days to keep them on their toes, (claws) coyotes love chickens, they're in before the coyotes are out! So far so good!  

Earning Trust

There was a little break in the rain today so I thought I would sneak out the front door and do some speed weeding while the girls worked the back property. Within 20 minutes they had found me. Because they have boundary issues weeding slowed to a snails pace until a gave in.

Those chickens have let me dress them up, give them feathered hats and everything, yet what they want most is my attention, it made me ponder what trust really means. It doesn't really matter on what level it's earned, if you have indeed earned it, there is value! The worth is in the slow build of collective moments that have brought you to that point.

With earned trust comes the responsibility not to betray it. Kind of a nonverbal contract I'm thinking.

In the end I guess I like that more than I like speed weeding, so I grabbed my camera and just hung out, it felt pretty good....   

Chicken Royal

Look out Kate Middleton there is a new chicken in town!!!

The Digging Crew

Anything involving a shovel is a slow process around here!  Marjorie is sure I am excavating  for bugs! It's all about her, soon I have a group and work slows to the speed of molasses for fear I will chop off a beak!

Sunbathing

I have come to understand that life is comprised of learning moments, how you react has a ripple affect. That being said, my chickens have taken up residence under the tree I just refilled with the dirt kindly farmed by the moles. I could run around the tree waving my arms claiming it as my property, but this is where the sun hits on the rare occasion it comes out. They were sunbathing. Sometimes in life you have to weigh your own inconvenience against another's joy, except their happiness as payment, what goes around comes around even in the simple moments in my opinion.